Question for you oldies...

[SpidersLegs]

Both parents and all grandparents went. Mum & Dad met behind the south goal at the Goldstone during a match. At one point my grandad was chairman of the supporters club, Dad was treasurer & Mum was secretary. So it was defenately in my blood!

 

[Brovion]

In similar vein to others (Brovion?) my Dad used to divide his loyalties in the 50s and 60s between Brighton and Portsmouth as they played home games on alternate Saturdays, though when the two played each other he alwys wanted an Albion win

No, my Dad never had divided loyalties, he never lived in Sussex and was Palace through-and-through. We did go and see a Palace v Brighton game together in about 1975. It was an evening game an Brighton won 1-0. It was before the rivalry so I was one of the few Brighton fans there. Good bit of banter that night!

In the 1960s my divided loyalties were between Brighton and Chelsea. In fact they weren't that divided as I was a Chelsea fan first and formost, but constant exposure to Brighton (and the promotion season of 1972) changed me.

 

[Superphil]

I actually think for youngsters (well, teenagers really) after a PROPER football experience you have to go a long way to beat the lower leagues / non league.

Are you sure? So, the option of Stanford Bridge or the Emirates to see the worlds finest football players is offered to a youngster, and the alternative is Withdean or the Dripping Pan. Are you really suggesting that the youngster would consider Division 3 or the Conference more "PROPER"? Get real Richie, anyone who has not chosen a team to support would rather go to see the Premiership, complete with all its awfulness, than sit in the rain with 5000 others watching Herford or Grays Athletic.

 

[The Oldman]

In similar vein to others (Brovion?) my Dad used to divide his loyalties in the 50s and 60s between Brighton and Portsmouth as they played home games on alternate Saturdays, though when the two played each other he alwys wanted an Albion win

A lot of folk in the late 40's, 50's and 60's from West Sussex went to Portsmouth one week and the Goldstone Next. One of my uncles was a season ticket holder at both but always a Brighton Fan. He loved it on the few times we put one over Pompey.

 

[glasfryn]

some of at my school were given tickets to go to one evening match (I think it might have been Fulham but can't be sure) there were so many people there some guy lifted me and my mate over the wall just north of the west stand and we both took turns to stand on his shoulders and there you are I was hooked,no one in my family liked football and only my daughter liked as time went on she was in love with H (Harry Wilson) she lives in the Brighton area but no longer goes to see the Albion.
my mate he went on to support Rotherham as his sister lived there,and he died in a car crash in Lancing still supporting them.
shows one thing its early in life where the seed is sewn and it does not really matter where you are born .........but do take the point that Premier league football is very enticing and can see why youngsters take to it.

 

[Brovion]

Are you sure? So, the option of Stanford Bridge or the Emirates to see the worlds finest football players is offered to a youngster, and the alternative is Withdean or the Dripping Pan. Are you really suggesting that the youngster would consider Division 3 or the Conference more "PROPER"? Get real Richie, anyone who has not chosen a team to support would rather go to see the Premiership, complete with all its awfulness, than sit in the rain with 5000 others watching Herford or Grays Athletic.

True. I'd only go and see third-rate Brighton when I couldn't go and see 'proper'football at Stamford Bridge. And, dare I say it, at Selhurst when they were in the 1st division.

A lot of folk in the late 40's, 50's and 60's from West Sussex went to Portsmouth one week and the Goldstone Next. One of my uncles was a season ticket holder at both but always a Brighton Fan. He loved it on the few times we put one over Pompey.

A mate of mine is an Everton STH. Back in the 1960s he said people would often go to which ever game was on, so you'd get Evertonians going to Anfield if Everton were away and vice-versa. Even as a staunch blue he had no qualms about standing on the Kop and cheering on Liverpool. He said it was more about supporting Liverpool, the city rather than the club.

 

[Paxton Dazo]

Are you sure? So, the option of Stanford Bridge or the Emirates to see the worlds finest football players is offered to a youngster, and the alternative is Withdean or the Dripping Pan. Are you really suggesting that the youngster would consider Division 3 or the Conference more "PROPER"? Get real Richie, anyone who has not chosen a team to support would rather go to see the Premiership, complete with all its awfulness, than sit in the rain with 5000 others watching Herford or Grays Athletic.

But is it proper football? - There's a f***ing free kick every 2 minutes, with a player on over 100k rolling around like a pansie if he gets the slightest touch.

Going to a ground like Yeovil, and have 1000 behind the goal on a terrace can be better than havign to sit down in the Emirates etc.

 

[defrocked priest]

My Uncle took me to the Goldstone way,way,way back in the early seventies. Everyone sang "Good Old Sussex Bt The Sea" I was hooked and am still hooked to this day.

 

[El Presidente]

Moved to Brighton aged 12 in 1974, previously I lived in Chelmsford, and would go along fairly regularly to watch them in the Southern League. At that stage I was a MUFC fan, which was fairly common for anyone living in a shit town with no proper football. They were the first team I had seen, winning the 1968 European Cup, and I fell for the glamour of Best, Charlton and Law.

Went to school as BHASVIC when it was still a grammar school, and a few of the class went to watch the Albion. I was still a United fan, and continued to be so until I left BHASVIC in 1980, but watched the Albion 8-10 times a seaosn. I then moved to Manchester to attend University. All I had ever wanted to do was stand of the legendary Stretford End, and like all legends, it proved to be a big let down.

The fans were bitchy, the football was patchy, but I was still a fan. United then sold Andy Ritchie to the Albion, and I came down to watch United play at the Goldstone on the overnight train from Manchester as a United fan, stood on the chicken run, watched United win 4-1, but found myself cheering on the Albion. I have no idea how or why this transformation happened, but ever since then it has been the Albion for me.

The only analogy I can give it that it's like wanting a really fit bird all your life, getting your chance to do it and find her beautiful yet unfulfilling, and then realising the girl next door is the one you really love and have far more in common with.

Still living in Manchester 28 years later, with United arguably the biggest and City the richest clubs in the world, I still am more excited about the Piss Pot trophy at Shrewsbury and the replay against the Monkey Hangers than anything the Prem, Champions League and everything that goes with it.

 

[fosters headband]

My first ever-pro game I watched was my then hometown team Gillingham when I was six years old in 1950.
We then moved up north and my father used to take me to see the Busby Babes, what a wonderful team.
We moved south again to Southampton and as a nine year old became a saints fan, going to the games on my own with lots of other lads in the boy's pen. (Who remembers those)?
Moving again to Brighton when I was eleven a friend introduced me to Goldstone. I also was one of those lucky kids who was around to see the six nil hammering of Watford, now as a confirmed Albion fan.
I had to watch this game with a restricted view by climbing on top of the shooting gallery that was positioned at the south end of the west stand. It was very painful for me, as this gallery was made of old wooden railway sleepers and I got the biggest, most painful splinter in my hand climbing up there.
I must admit to having a long break from actually watching the Albion when my own son played regular county league football for about 12 years. But when he finally finished playing I was straight back following the stripes again, with a season ticket back at my first ground Gillingham. So I have been privileged to watch every promotion winning game the Albion have ever been involved in. I have seen some exciting times and some real painful ones, but this is what supporting Brighton is all about.

 

[Daddies_Sauce]

Used to be taken by either my dad, uncle or we would all go on the occasions when they were not both working (for the Post Office). They had to take a small stool for me to stand on behind one of the crush barriers, so that I could see from the Goldstone Chicken Run (by where they used to position the scaffolding for the TV cameras, Sunday Soccer on the ITV!) so been ‘following’ for some 44 years now. There used to be a ‘hot Chestnut’ seller on Newton Road by the church, they were a special treat on match days. Supported the Albion at the Goldstone where I stood in every terrace, East, West, the North stand to bait the away supporters (yes I hate Palarse!) and the South Stand when I grew up a bit, until it was closed down. Followed them into Div 1 and the FA cup final, but lost touch with the Albion while they were forced 'away'.
“She who thinks she must be obeyed”, has family who have been season ticket holders at the Withdean for years, they started taking my son over last season and the previous (he had never shown any interest in football until then and only started to go along because they had a free ticket). Slowly they have reintroduced me and I have the bug again, decided to no longer pay the £24 whatever it was for a match day ticket so we are now season ticket holders.

 

[Superphil]

Lived abroad till I was 10, "supported" Leeds as a little 'un for no other reason than they were really good then.

Came to the UK aged 10 and started at boarding school in Sussex, one morning a bloke called Eric Steele was guest speaker at morning assembly. I asked who he was, found out he was a goalie, then found out he was Brightons goalie, then found out that Brighton were my "local" team and that Leeds was miles and miles away. So as a turncoat I dumped Leeds and became a Brighton fan. This photo of me was taken just before I went to boarding school!

It has since been photoshopped !!!!

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Grand parents lived just down the road from the Goldstone and it always had a great atmosphere.

Hooked.

Wish i had a tardis.

 

[Questions]

As Gillivers Travels so eloquently puts it.........One of the reasons why crowds are dwindling is the lack of piped tobacco aromas wafting across the stands. God I can smell it now........... lovely.



oh yes and the smell of embrocation the players wore for cold evening games.

 

[Padders]

My Dad used to take me. He stood next to the tunnel (south side) and I stood at the front. Graduated to the North Stand with mates from School but didn't go every game during the lean years (bad fan), started going more regularly around 1976 for obvious reasons.

 

[cheshunt seagull]

When I came back from Italy, in February 1972, I found myself living in a bed-sit in Hove. The guy in the room next door was an Albion fan and he suggested I went along to a game.

Discovering that going down the Shoreham Road was a pleasant enough experience and the Brighton Aces were pushing for promotion, I just got into the habit. The excitement was enhanced by the possibility that the Albion might overhaul Aston Villa - but, sadly, I have to report that they failed to do so, finishing five points behind them, but still winning promotion.

The 1972 promotion run-in hooked me. My parents bought a house in the Old Shoreham Road, just before the Drive, when we returned from living the US in January 72. 5 minutes walk to watch huge crowds and what always seemed to be very late winning goals from Irvine, Beamish and Napier.

 

[getreal1]

Supporting your local team was the norm. You'd have weekly draw tickets and brochures sold to your parents at the doorstep. Anyone at school who regularly went to see a live match was elevated in status. It helped that the era was for me from the early 70s with the promotion, then relegation, Clough, Taylor, Bamber, Mullery, Ward, Mellor, two promotions in three seasons and Div 1 football. The lead up to the Arsenal game being the first ever in the top flight was spine tingling. Maybe with more choices and wall to wall football on the tv now things are not quite so special, I don't know....

 

[Taybha]

Moved to Brighton aged 12 in 1974, previously I lived in Chelmsford, and would go along fairly regularly to watch them in the Southern League. At that stage I was a MUFC fan, which was fairly common for anyone living in a shit town with no proper football. They were the first team I had seen, winning the 1968 European Cup, and I fell for the glamour of Best, Charlton and Law.

Went to school as BHASVIC when it was still a grammar school, and a few of the class went to watch the Albion. I was still a United fan, and continued to be so until I left BHASVIC in 1980, but watched the Albion 8-10 times a seaosn. I then moved to Manchester to attend University. All I had ever wanted to do was stand of the legendary Stretford End, and like all legends, it proved to be a big let down.

The fans were bitchy, the football was patchy, but I was still a fan. United then sold Andy Ritchie to the Albion, and I came down to watch United play at the Goldstone on the overnight train from Manchester as a United fan, stood on the chicken run, watched United win 4-1, but found myself cheering on the Albion. I have no idea how or why this transformation happened, but ever since then it has been the Albion for me.

The only analogy I can give it that it's like wanting a really fit bird all your life, getting your chance to do it and find her beautiful yet unfulfilling, and then realising the girl next door is the one you really love and have far more in common with.

Still living in Manchester 28 years later, with United arguably the biggest and City the richest clubs in the world, I still am more excited about the Piss Pot trophy at Shrewsbury and the replay against the Monkey Hangers than anything the Prem, Champions League and everything that goes with it.

 

[Muhammad - I’m hard - Bruce Lee]

i was 7,

i wanted to support chelsea cos they were a bit good in them days (1967)
they aint THAT bad now to be fair.

however, i was really naughty one week and my grandad took me to see brighton as a punishment.


been hooked ever since

 

[m20gull]

A lot of folk in the late 40's, 50's and 60's from West Sussex went to Portsmouth one week and the Goldstone Next.

My Dad did. He was born in Hove but his family moved to West Sussex and he used to go with his friends to first division Pompey one week and on his own to lowly third division south Brighton the other weeks.
Guess the games used to be cheaper then!